Virulence-transmission trade-offs and population divergence in virulence in a naturally occurring butterfly parasite.

@article{Roode2008VirulencetransmissionTA,
title={Virulence-transmission trade-offs and population divergence in virulence in a naturally occurring butterfly parasite.},
author={Jacobus C. de Roode and Andrew J. Yates and Sonia Altizer},
journal={Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America},
year={2008},
volume={105 21},
pages={7489-94}
}

Why do parasites harm their hosts? Conventional wisdom holds that because parasites depend on their hosts for survival and transmission, they should evolve to become benign, yet many parasites cause harm. Theory predicts that parasites could evolve virulence (i.e., parasite-induced reductions in host fitness) by balancing the transmission benefits of parasite replication with the costs of host death. This idea has led researchers to predict how human interventions-such as vaccines-may alter… CONTINUE READING